Hood with improved air inlet

ABSTRACT

A head and face protective enclosure for use by those working in contaminated environments. An inlet fitting for admitting respiration air to the enclosure located at the rear of the enclosure. A rearward extending air inlet projection that has a bottom wall formed with an opening for the air inlet fitting. The opening is positioned inside of the edge of the bottom wall so that the fitting is protected by the walls of the air inlet projection from impact by falling objects.

United States Patent Raschke [4 1 Aug. 22, 1972 [54] HOOD WITH IMPROVEDAIR INLET 1,464,883 8/ 1923 Phillips et al. 128/ 142.6 [72] Inventor:Herbert Raschke Greenbrae, 1,041,610 10/1912 Fabian ..l28/142.7

Calif 2,896,617 7/1959 3,223,086 l2/ 1965 Denton ..2/6 X [73] Assignee:E. D. Bullard Company, Sausalito,

Calif. Primary Examiner-Richard A. Gaudet Assistant Examiner-J. B.Mitchell [22] Flled Sept 1970 Attorney-Townsend & Townsend [21] Appl.No.: 70,198

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. ..l28/ 142.7 A head and face Protectiveenclosure for use y' 51 Int. Cl. ..A62b 18/04 Working in contaminatedenvironments- An inlet 5 Field of 12 /142 7 1425 [42A, 203 fitting fOl'admitting respiration air I0 .the enclosure 2 426 147 1423. 2/2 R 21 A 3located at the rear Of the fil'lCIOSLll'C. A rearward 8X- [32/251tending air inlet projection that has a bottom wall formed with anopening for the air inlet fitting. The opening is positioned inside ofthe edge of the bottom [56] References Cited wall so that the fitting isprotected by the wallsof the UNITED STATES PATENTS air inlet projectionfrom impact by falling objects.

81 1,021 1/ 1906 Wood ..128/142.3 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Mum/H1111)1 R Patented Aug. 22, 1912 3,685,512

//v vawrok HERBERT A. RASCHKE BY WZ%mm ATTORNEYS HOOD WITH IMPROVED AIRINLET This invention relates to an improved air inlet structure for ahead protective hood of the type worn by persons working in acontaminated atmosphere such as sand blasters.

Persons working in contaminated atmospheres require protection fromairborne particles as well as a continuous supply of cleans air forrespiration. These requirements are typically supplied by a headenclosure that has an air inlet opening to which an air hose isconnected for delivering respiration air to the interior of theenclosure. The head enclosure typically includes a rigid shell thatoverlies the crown of the head and a rigid portion that depends from therim of the shell that encircles and protects the face and neck of thewearer. Attached to the bottom of the face and neck protecting portionis a flexible shroud which is tied or strapped around the chest of thewearer to form a more or less airtight enclosure. The fitting for theair tube is typically installed either on the crown portion or the headneck protecting portion at the rear thereof to avoid interference withthe activities of the wearer.

According to the present invention, the rigid enclosure is formed with ahorizontally extending projection which has a horizontal lower wall inwhich the air inlet opening is formed. Accordingly, the air inletfittings are protected by the projection from impact by falling objects.

In a preferred form of the invention the crown, face and neck protectingportion, and projection for the air inlet are formed integrally ofimpact-resistant plastic. Typically, the crownportion flares outwardlywhere it joins the face and neck protecting portion and in the preferredform of the invention the air inlet projection is positioned at the samelevel as the outwardly flaring rim portion so as to blend smoothly intothe crown portion thereby avoiding any unduly sharp projections from thecrown. Thus, objects striking the projection will be deflected outwardlyaway from the air connecting fittings.

Another aspect of the preferred form of the invention is that theprojection is located rearwardly of the side of the face and neckprotecting portion; the air inlet projection has a vertical side wallthat blends in tangentially with the wall of the face and neckprotecting portion. Consequently, the air inlet projection does notproject laterally by an undue amount.

A feature and advantage of the above-mentioned tangential relationshipis that the air tube within the head closure can be installed without anunnecessary number of bends of curves.

The foregoing aspects together with the objects, features, andadvantages of the present invention will be more apparent afterreferring to the following specification and accompanying drawing inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a head protective enclosure having an air inletaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top view of the enclosure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary rear view of the enclosure in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side view taken from the same aspect as FIG. 1at an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary bottom view of the enclosure of FIG. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, reference numeral 12indicates a head enclosure of the type worn by persons engaging insandblasting, lead grinding, and like tasks that produce contaminatedatmospheres. Such head enclosures typically include a rigid hat or crownprotecting portion 14 which flares out at its lower extremity 16 andjoins a rigid face and neck protecting portion 18. Face and neckprotecting portion 18 typically includes a transparent window 20 at thefront thereof at a level opposite the eyes of the wearer to affordadequate vision for the wearer. Such hoods typically include a flexibleshroud, fragmentarily indicated at 22, that is fastened around the lowerrim of face and neck protecting portion 18. The shroud extends down tothe chest of the wearer at which point it is tied or otherwise securedto the body to form a more or less airtight enclosure. Respiration airis supplied to the enclosure through an air hose 24, which is suppliedwith air from a compressor and filter of conventional form, not shown.

For connecting hose 24 to enclosure 12 so that air is deliveredto theinterior of the enclosure, the present invention provides an air inletprojection 26 disposed generally in one of the rear quarters of face andneck protecting portion 18. The projection includes a top wall 28 and abottom wall 30 that is generally parallel to the top wall. The top andbottom walls extend generally in a horizontal direction. Projection 26is completed by a rear wall 32 which extends vertically between the topand bottom walls and a sidewall 34 that extends vertically between thetop and bottom walls. As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 5, sidewall 34extends forwardly until it blends smoothly and tangentially into faceand neck protecting portion 18 of the enclosure.

Bottom wall 30 is provided with an opening 36. As seen most clearly inFIG. 5, opening 36 is positioned inside of the outer edges of bottomwall 30 to form a mar- 'gin 38 between the hole and the outer edges ofthe bottom wall. Extending through hole 36 from the interior of airinlet projection 26 is one leg of a elbow 40; the protruding portion ofthe elbow is threaded to receive a lock nut 42 which has an outerdimension sufficiently small that the entire nut resides within margin38 whereby no parts of the hose connection project laterally of the edgeof top and bottom walls 28 and 30 respectively. To the other leg ofelbow 40 by means of a nut 44 is connected an air distribution tube 46which extends around forward portion of enclosure 14 at a levelapproximating that of flared portion 16. As is conventional, airdistribution tube 46 has a series of holes for directing fresh air downover the face of the wearer of the enclosure. As can be seen in FIG. 5,the tangential relationship between the sidewall 34 and face and neckprotecting portion 18 permits installation of the air distribution tube46 without an excessive number of bends or extra fittings. It canadditionally be appreciated by reference to FIG. 4 that top wall 28 andbottom wall 30 are spaced from one another by an amount suflicient toreceive elbow 40 therebetween.

An important feature and advantage of the present invention can beappreciated by reference to FIG. 2 which is a top view looking down onair inlet projection 26. Because nut 42 lies totally inside of the outeredges of top wall 28, any objects falling from above will strike theairinlet projection but will not strike the fittings employing to attachair hose 24 to the helmet. Accordingly, a continuous supply of fresh airis assured even should some falling object strike projection 26.Moreover, because top wall 28 is positioned at about the same level asflared portion 16, see FIG. 3, foreign objects striking the crownportion 14 near air inlet projection 26 are likely to be deflectedoutwardly rather than subjecting the projection to a full impact force.Additionally, because the sidewall 34 meets face and neck protectingportion 18 at a tangent to the latter, (see FIG. projection 26 does notextend laterally of the maximum transverse dimension of the helmet sothat the projection will not interfere with the wearer's movements evenin restricted spaces.

Thus, it will be seen that the present invention provides an improvedair inlet for a head protective enclosure which'materially increases thesafety with which the device is used since the air inlet fittings are sodisposed as to be out of thedirect path of any falling objects that maystrike the enclosure.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described,it will be obvious that other adaptations and modifications can be madewithout departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a head enclosure of the type including a rigid crown portion foroverlying the head of a wearer, an outwardly flaring rigid flange aroundthe lower region of the crown portion, and a rigid face and neckprotecting portion surrounding the flange and depending substantiallyvertically therefrom, the improvement comprising means projectingrearwardly from said face and neck protecting portion for defining anair inlet to the head enclosure, said means including upper and lowcrhorizontal spaced apart walls integral with and project-' projectssmoothly in a discontinuity-free manner from said head enclosure.

3. A head enclosure according-to claim 1 wherein said air inlet definingmeans is disposed inlet of the front-to-back mid-point of saidenclosure, said air inlet defining means including a generally verticalsidewall extending between said upper and lower walls, the forwardextremity of said side wall being tangent to said face and neckprotecting portion.

1. In a head enclosure of the type including a rigid crown portion foroverlying the head of a wearer, an outwardly flaring rigid flange aroundthe lower region of the crown portion, and a rigid face and neckprotecting portion surrounding the flange and depending substantiallyvertically therefrom, the improvement comprising means projectingrearwardly from said face and neck protecting portion for defining anair inlet to the head enclosure, said means including upper and lowerhorizontal spaced apart walls integral with and projecting generallyperpendicularly from said face and neck protecting portion, said lowerwall defining an air inlet opening therethrough, said opening beingdisposed sufficiently interior of the outer extremity of said lower wallto define a margin so that an air conduit can be connected in dependingrelation of said lower wall in communication with said opening andreside totally within the outer extremities of said walls.
 2. A headenclosure according to claim 1 wherein said upper wall is disposed invertical alignment with said outwardly flaring flange so that said upperwall projects smoothly in a discontinuity-free manner from said headenclosure.
 3. A head enclosure according to claim 1 wherein said airinlet defining means is disposed rearwardly of the front-to-backmid-point of said enclosure, said air inlet defining means including agenerally vertical sidewall extending between said upper and lowerwalls, the forward extremity of said side wall being tangent to saidface and neck protecting portion.